Spurs brace for better Nowitzki

SAN ANTONIO — Spurs center Tiago Splitter has steeled himself for a Game 2 challenge from Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki that he expects will be much more difficult than what he received in Game 1.

Splitter had the lion's share of the defensive work on Nowitzki on Sunday, when the star forward was held to 11 points on 4-for-14 shooting.

“He's one of those players you're thinking all day how you're going to guard him and what he's going to do in the game,” Splitter said. “First you have to be really close to him. He has a quick release, a high release, so you just try to be close to him and not foul.

“It's not easy. You know he's going to release that fadeaway and do the jumper. But he wasn't comfortable the first game. For sure, they're going to do something (new) against us, against our defense. We have to be ready to read it.”

“Tiago did a great job staying up into him and taking away his air space, making him do something else,” Duncan said.

No nice Pop needed: While heartened by the emotional message Gregg Popovich delivered to him during Sunday's game, TNT sideline reporter Craig Sager said he doesn't want the Spurs' coach to treat him differently because of his illness.

During an interview with Sager's son, Popovich encouraged Sager to recover quickly from his battle with leukemia and even promised to be “nice” in future interviews.

“It was just a fabulous, uplifting, tremendous thing for me,” Sager told Sports Illustrated this week from his hospital room in Atlanta. “Pop saying he wanted me back and then promising to be nice? I was like, 'Oh, my God, that's unbelievable, what an honor.'

“But then I started thinking about it: If I come back and Pop starts being nice to me, it just wouldn't be right. I want him to go Serbian on me.”

Popovich, who is of Serbian descent, is famed for appearing annoyed during Sager's interviews, an impression often bolstered by repeated one-word answers.

PG rotation same: Though Dallas coach Rick Carlisle promised there would be “a lot of adjusting” as his team approaches Game 2, he specified one adjustment he won't make: Devin Harris starting at point guard instead of Jose Calderon.

Harris scored a team-high 19 points in Game 1 and played nearly 32 minutes while Calderon scored nine in just 16 minutes, but Carlisle will stick with Calderon, his starter all season.

“Jose's been our starter all year, and he's been playing great all year,” Carlisle said. “He's our guy, and we're not going to change the lineup just to change the lineup. We need him. And we need Harris to keep doing what he's doing.

“It ain't about who starts. It's about the fact that we need everybody to contribute.”